Kentucky may have to decide whether to pick up federal education funding slack, lawmakers hear
Republished from Kentucky Lantern
FRANKFORT — A group of Kentucky lawmakers was briefed Tuesday on a slew of changes to federal education funding coming out of Washington.
During the first meeting of the Interim Joint Committee on Education, Kentucky senators and representatives heard about proposals to cut the federal education budget and some pauses in funding under the Trump administration from Tara Thomas, government affairs manager for the AASA, The School Superintendents Association.
Tuesday marked the start of interim committee meetings for state lawmakers this year. In the months ahead, committees of senators and representatives will hear presentations to gather information to use in the 2026 legislative session. That’s when legislators will debate and finalize the next two-year state budget.
In recent months, the Kentucky Department of Education and Robbie Fletcher, the state’s education commissioner, have sent public warnings about how losing funding, particularly dollars previously promised as COVID relief, will jeopardize projects in Kentucky schools. About two weeks ago, the U.S. Department of Education (USED) denied a $10.6 million request to extend COVID relief funding submitted by KDE on behalf of school districts.
Thomas told lawmakers that the federal Education Department has denied some extensions for projects that were not related to services “directly provided to students.” Some examples include projects for improving building ventilation or the environment of the schools or supporting professional development programs.
Thomas said Kentucky may have to consider if it wants to fund some of these denied requests for education programs and resources itself. Elementary and secondary education receives the biggest chunk of Kentucky’s General Fund budget and is one of the most polarizing issues.
“If Kentucky has some of those programs … you had extensions for and no longer have it, I think the state’s going to have to determine if they want to continue those programs or not,” Thomas said.
Other topics during the presentation included a review of the Republicans’ “big, beautiful bill” moving through Congress and the Trump administration’s recently released budget request for the next fiscal year. The budget bill includes a tax credit scholarship for a nationwide “school choice” program. Kentucky voters rejected a constitutional amendment last November to allow the General Assembly to fund nonpublic schools with public money.
As the committee was pressed for time with other presentations during the meeting, Rep. Adrielle Camuel, D-Lexington, was the only lawmaker to ask a question of Thomas. Camuel asked for clarification about if the tax credit allowed for states to create reporting requirements to show how “funds are being spent, how they’re using the federal tax credits.”
Thomas said that as of right now, the proposal has been a straightforward tax credit, but “going to the administration’s deferral to states, I would imagine that they might allow for implementing additional accountability standards if that’s what the state wants to do.” President Donald Trump previously signed an executive order to move the U.S. Education Department’s main functions to the states.
Committee co-chairman Sen. Steve West, R-Paris, said the briefing was intended to be a snapshot of the changes in federal policies and how they will affect Kentucky.
“I’m sure things will change tomorrow,” West said.
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